Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - Legend of Zelda OoT

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - submission version - 10-31-12

Hi everyone!

I didn't start this with the intention of making a Requiem of Spirit remix, or any remix for that matter. It began as an experiment, using my favorite new playtoys (Omnisphere and my Damage drum library), to see if I could create an enormous soundscape, with some sounds close-up and some very distant. I came up with a drum and bass groove that I Iiked one evening, and the next morning I awoke with the six notes of Requiem playing over it in my head in a rather unique way. So I sat down at the computer and this just flowed out.

Requiem of Spirit leads Link to the Desert Colossus in OoT. It was only after my mix was complete that I realized that all that industrial clanking in the first half is an excellent reference to the Lanayru Desert in Skyward Sword. So, that's cool.

This song makes me feel emotional... it is haunting and even a bit disturbing when I listen to it. It starts out fairly badass and electronic, then morphs into something softer and more orchestral, with the Damage drums bridging the sections. The song could tell the story of someone who has made some bad decisions in life, but as time goes on he realizes his mistakes but wonders if it is too late to change his ways...

I plan to submit this soon. Thanks in advance for any comments, and I hope you enjoy this track.

(track will remain "private" until I submit it)

edit: oops... I darn-near forgot to post the awesome

edit again: changing to WIP as I am adding another solo and doing some tweaks.

This is really nice! ...and also really haunting as well. Something I would say is that it takes a while to get to the best part, and some of the tension is lost during the wait. Other than that, there's not much criticism that I can think of. I really like the way you transformed the original and made it your own.

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 2

Back to mod review status. I've done quite a bit more work on this song. I spent a lot of time perfecting the bass timbres, to make sure they are satisfying yet balanced. Also, I've added a flute solo in the middle, and made the final passage more epic.

I think my source usage and interpretation are adequate, and I think the arrangement works. Hopefully there are enough elements here to keep things interesting throughout the song. My primary question for a mod (or anyone with a good ear) relates to mixing and levels, as this is where I have struggled the hardest. Is it anywhere near submit-worthy?

Thanks so much to my dear friend anterroir for suggesting (and then providing) the wonderful brass section and timpani at the end, making it much more dramatic.

Thanks PI511, your comment was correct, it needed something leading up to the climax. I hope the flute solo is enough of an attention-holding transistion, and I hope the climax is a worthy payoff.

source:

Hey chimp. I'll post some thoughts for you:

- Overall it's pretty solid. There's a lot of repetitiveness present in the track, but you keep things pretty fresh by having at least something different going on at most moments. Love that bass - especially in the intro.

- It does feel a bit quiet to me in general. The overall volume feels like it could be increased. I was listening with a nice pair of headphones, and it just felt soft in volume compared to most other tracks.

- I like the orchestral elements that sneak in towards the 2nd half and ending parts of the track, In general your instrument selection is solid and the samples are used well enough.

- My biggest critique deals with the climax and overall flow of the track, to be specific, throughout the entire track - I really, really want it to reach this epic climax with a big drum change and something that really captures my attention - this would also make the mix feel a lot less repetitive. When you start layering in the orchestral elements, i get excited.. and you finally DO hit a climax at like 2:35 but its just not enough, the drums don't really change, things mostly stay the same - It's just not epic enough. That being said - I like what you have thus far.

Hope it helps~

Thanks k-wix, glad you like it! I worked very hard to get both bass timbres sounding good. They sounds good on all my systems now (monitors, headphones, car, iphone). It took many tweaks, layerings and listens. *whew*

A remix based on a six-note source is bound to have some repetitiveness. It's hard to avoid that if you want to have enough source reference and still have some length. I did try to make varied sections.

I agree it could be a bit louder. I'll bring up the gain.

I'll see what I can do about making the ending more epic! I'll play around with some drum change-ups. Thanks for the suggestions, and your kind words.

Edit: once again changing this back to wip... still making changes. More epicness will be coming. I'll spare the mods their time until I just can't think of anything else to add. (if I add the sound of my toilet flushing into this, I've definitely gone too far)

I really like this.

I don't have any problem with the long build-up at the intro. It is very atmospheric and fitting IMO. I don't really like the square-ish sound that enters at 0:55 though, it kind of kills the mood. Try to make it sound more haunting, like all the rest of the instruments.

I love when the pad enters at 1:32, very nice. The piano-ish sound is a bit dry though, and the repeating notes sound a bit dull.

The song progresses nicely after that, lovely acoustic guitar. At 2:30 there's another dry sound playing the repeated notes...

Overall, very very nice sounding. I think you managed to make every instrument listenable and that's pretty cool.

My only issue with the mix, and it may be completely my fault, is that I can't recognize the source here...

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 3

Ok folks, here it is again. Incorporating everyone's comments (especially k-wix), I've made the ending part more epic. So epic in fact, and I like it so much now, that I added 8 extra bars of epic. So tell me, is it satisfyingly epic, or have I gone totally overboard?

I added some extra reverb/delay to the bell lead. I also gave some extra attention to my compressors and master limiter and pushed up that gain. Please tell me if anything is too loud. Hear any clipping or distortion? I don't, but my ears are tired.

six-note source:

Thanks everyone!

Some suggestions (fantastic work so far, by the way):

Overall, the bass is too loud in the low end. Try to get one that has about 3/4 the amplitude of the kick, is sidechained by the kick, and more treble fuzz. Whenever I want a specific bass sound, I almost always end up creating it myself.

At 0:28, the pot clang feels too dry. It would be a good idea to process an entire percussion kit under one reverb instance to give the feel of just one kit being played, and not a combination of kits. I believe you were using only one kit, but it didn't feel like it.

At 1:11 - 1:32, I think it would be great to change up the percussion rhythm just to deviate from your previous half-time rhythms. That way the song feels shorter but actually isn't.

At 1:20, I find that distorted arpeggio tone ideal. Try getting the bass tone from beginning to 1:32 to sound like that.

At 1:32, it feels like it leads into a breakdown, so change up the soundscape just to be creative. Think of a new combination of instruments that matches your previous and create a cohesive transition.

At 1:52 - 2:06, it could be a breakdown, so try transitioning 1:32 - 1:51 to lead into that. Then, lead back up to something similar to 1:11, but with new percussion.

2:29 - 2:35 sounds like terraced dynamics to me. Try making it more gradual.

2:34 - 2:35 for a crescendo might be a bit too close. That's what I expected, but have the crescendo show up a bit earlier to give an earlier heads-up.

In the 2:35 climax, the snare feels weak. Layer your snares and try to find a really powerful sound. Try not to stick to your one Damaged Drums kit. Also, the bell/steel drum-like (no, seriously) lead sounds like it has a lot of delay. Lower that by about 15%. The reverb is fine, but make sure you aren't reducing the dry mix on the reverb. Start it at 0 and adjust the wet first.

3:25 to the end sounds like good dynamics work to me. Nice work on that!

The lead instrument in the climax section (2:35 onwards) is a bit loud IMO. I think it has too much reverb/delay or something, making that section sound slightly moody.

The section beggining at 3:02 is close to clipping I believe.

Otherwise, this climax is a nice addition, but take another look at that lead.

EDIT: Semi off-topic question, where do you get most of your sounds? You have some nice ones.

Thanks J, also thanks to T for some really great comments and suggestions! I appreciate the extra ears, I really want to submit this.

Yeah, that final passage is way loud and intense. I'm toning it down a bit, and yeah, too much delay on the bell thingy. Did you mean moody, or muddy?

My main vsts these days are Kontakt and Omnisphere. Also in this song I've used Damage drums (a Kontakt library).

Thanks J, also thanks to T for some really great comments and suggestions! I appreciate the extra ears, I really want to submit this.

Yeah, that final passage is way loud and intense. I'm toning it down a bit, and yeah, too much delay on the bell thingy. Did you mean moody, or muddy?

My main vsts these days are Kontakt and Omnisphere. Also in this song I've used Damage drums (a Kontakt library).

I guess you could assume any of those

But yeah, I meant muddy lol.

Oh, I don't have Kontakt (only the demo version), but I suspected that was what you were using. Thanks!

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 3

Ok folks, here it is again. Incorporating everyone's comments (especially k-wix), I've made the ending part more epic. So epic in fact, and I like it so much now, that I added 8 extra bars of epic. So tell me, is it satisfyingly epic, or have I gone totally overboard?

I added some extra reverb/delay to the bell lead. I also gave some extra attention to my compressors and master limiter and pushed up that gain. Please tell me if anything is too loud. Hear any clipping or distortion? I don't, but my ears are tired.

No matter which way you look at it, in my book this is a better version. Especially from a compositional perspective, the song progresses more naturally and I finally have that 'epic' climax. Love the ambiance and mood of the track. Some other things of note:

- Requiem is one of my all-time favorite Zelda medleys, and it's super hard to make a track that's based on such a short diddy, but I think you do a fair job of it here. Something to think about though: If you sat me down and played this song for me and asked me what game it was from, I would have no idea. This is good and bad, I love that you've taken the original and remixed it so thoroughly, however - I think many will have trouble placing the classic. Something to consider.

- Climax is there, and it's much better, but I question your lead. It feels a bit too bright, happy, and even jumpy in some cases for this part of the track. You might have some luck trying a new instrument entirely, or maybe tweaking what you have. You could also try rewriting some of the notes and trying for a different vibe that way.

- You do some sick things with the bass at about 1:25 but it's totally hidden because of your volume and layering. Don't be afraid to change things on fly to highlight that, it's one of the coolest parts of the track, yet I can barely hear it.

Thanks so much k-wix, timaeus, jnWake ... more awesome comments... giving me even more ideas already... glad it is more epic. I've already changed the bass to be less boomy and more audible (thanks timaeus)... that "sick" part at 1:25 is two gated Omnisphere saws, I love it too, I'll find a way to make that shine more. Maybe I can bring the melody in more, got some ideas forming... and yeah, I'll experiment more with that final lead.

Thanks soooooo much everyone... hopefully I'll get this finalized shortly.

Oh wow. This is incredible! I love how it's super dark, but also trance-y. Great variety of timbre too.

I only see a few things I could nitpick:

- The sine-wave lead in the beggining of the song sounds a little bit too loud.

- Fake-sounding drums; they work well though.

That's all I can see wrong with it. I personally can't hear the source anywhere, except possibly ~2:07.

Great, great job!

Thanks Jordan!

Ok so the main things I'm going to focus on now are:

1. ending solo timbre

2. getting the source more recognizable (jeez really? not sure how I'm going to do that, honestly... is it that obscure? damn... gotta put on the thinking cap...)

As for the "fake drums," haha,

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - wip 4

Hi all! Changes in this version:

1. Reworked the climax - added a synth on top of what I had already. I altered the writing to accomodate it. I think it sounds awesome. Is it loud enough? Too loud?

2. Added some more source to the beginning - underneath the two synths I had there already, I added another instrument layer playing the Requiem six notes, verbatim. Is this recognizable? And, does this help you recognize the theme in the rest of the song as well? Here is the complete source breakdown:

(song is 4:00, source total is 2:35 or 59%)

Intro:

0:36 – 0:55: flourishes using five of the six notes (I won’t count this)

First lead (70 seconds):

0:55 – 1:03: slow version

1:03 – 1:11: fast version

1:11 – 1:20: slow version

1:20 – 1:25: fast version

Second lead (9 seconds):

1:32 – 1:37: interpretive

1:41 – 1:45: more interpretive

Flute solo (all interpretive) (22 seconds):

2:05 – 2:11

2:14 – 2:20

2:23 – 2:28

2:31 – 2:36

Climax (21 seconds):

wild solo based on source (doesn't count)

2:52 – 2:57 interpretive

3:01 – 3:06 very interpretive

3:09 – 3:15 blatant

3:18 – 3:23 blatant

Outro (19 seconds):

3:26 – 3:45 blatant

Huge improvement! =D From here, I'd suggest working on the subtle quirks that make an arrangement engaging. i.e. nuances other people might not actually notice in the song that give expression to an instrument (like MIDI CC, ingenious sequencing, etc.), transitions that ensure the entire section is foreshadowing the next (melody rhythmic change-ups, snare rolls, reverse crashes, white noise sweeps, rim shots, and so on), etc.

Things I'm noticing are:

- The bass notes are repeating the same two pitches from 0:21 to 2:33 (which is a long time! xD). Try changing it up a little to give the feel you want, but also give the idea of a more complex structure.

- 1:33 seems like a new section, but it doesn't sound too different from what came before it. Maybe you can change up the instruments so that even though you have a similar atmosphere, the instruments are different. ;D

- 2:33 - this is very minor and not a big deal, but it would make more sense, just in my opinion, that the transition to 2:35 started at 2:32.5 instead of 2:33.5.

It's sounding really good right now! The compression work made an awesome difference. =D

Thanks T! And wow... that's some serious nitpicking! I'll see what I can do. But I think I'm very close to pushing the submit button soon. Thanks again friend!

Man, I wonder how you manage to make your waveforms look so pretty lol.

I like the new fills between 0:30 and 1:00!

The sample I criticized on a previous version now sounds better too.

The flute solo is very similar to the piano-like sound solo before. Try to make them sound more like different solos.

Your source breakdown helps me to identify the source now. It still seems a bit too liberal, but I guess it is fine. The song sounds amazing though and that's what matters!

After REALLY closely comparing the remix and the source, I'm proud to say that I hear the source in your arrangement enough for it to pass on the panel. I'd say the arrangement aspect in terms of amount of source usage is fantastic and really creative! The soundscape is another thing, but I'd say that's actually really close right now.

Requiem for a Damaged Spirit - submitted Oct 31, 2012

(all other versions deleted from Soundcloud)

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Thanks very very much for that T! I'm going to live with it for a few more days (taking some much needed days off from it) listen again for a sanity-check and sub it.

THANKS.